Works with their own sub-pages:[[index]]* DracoInLeatherPants/HarryPotter[[/index]]

----* Hannibal Lecter from ''Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs''. Exacerbated by prequel ''Literature/HannibalRising'', which turns Hannibal from a SerialKiller to a vigilante on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge with a FreudianExcuse for his cannibalism.* The blind poet Milton created the official King of this trope, Lucifer/Satan, in his epic ''Literature/ParadiseLost.''** Somewhat averted though, as the author ''deliberately'' portrayed him sympathetically. It's more a case of Milton giving Satan an AlternativeCharacterInterpretation.*** Or just making him ''incredibly'' charismatic and allowing him to present his own account of his fall. What better way to show the seductive power of evil than by making the greatest villain in Christianity actually seductive to the ''reader?'' However he was not intended as entirely sympathetic, even he points out his MotiveDecay, finally he just wants to upset God by causing the Fall of Man.* ''Literature/InheritanceCycle''** Murtagh has a vast following in the fandom. He's frequently referred to as the "real hero" of the Cycle. Please note that this didn't apply until ''after'' his [[spoiler: FaceHeelTurn.]]** [[BigBad Galbatorix]] and Sloan. Galbatorix has hardly done a single heroic thing in the whole series. He appoints [[PsychoForHire sociopaths]] as his generals and he has [[OurOrcsAreDifferent human-eating beasties]] do his bidding. To those who give Eragon the RonTheDeathEater treatment, Galbatorix is a hero. Sloan is somewhat more justified because he did wrong only to save his daughter; even Eragon gave him some respect in the end.* Mrs. Coulter and Lord Asriel in ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials''. Granted, they're {{AntiVillain}}s, but many people are willing to completely ignore the questionable, cruel, and downright ''evil'' things they have done.** Admirers of Asriel in the film canon can ''almost'' be excused; the one truly inexcusable thing he does, [[spoiler:literally sacrificing his daughter's best friend to open the gate between worlds]], was shifted to the (then) as-yet-unmade (and subsequently cancelled) sequel.* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''.** Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish. Charming, handsome, witty, always cheerful and a ManipulativeBastard with ChronicBackstabbingDisorder to boot. His ultimate goals are rather unclear, as is just how much of the anarchy and war that dominates the books has been orchestrated by him, but he has taken credit for the majority of it and its implied to be little more than DespotismJustifiesTheMeans. Whilst the character is definitely subject to AlternativeCharacterInterpretation and has many hidden depths to his personality, corners of the fandom treat him like a divine saviour whose goals are all working to the benefit of the small folk, the people the wars have screwed over the most, partially because he is looked down on because of how minor a lord he is. Not to mention, they also "forget" how he [[ForcefulKiss forces unwanted kisses]] on [[spoiler: his teenage niece-by-marriage]] Sansa Stark, his disciple and possible candidate for Queen, how he personally murdered [[spoiler:his wife, Lysa Arryn (who had, admittedly, raped him when he was young,]] and was responsible for the deaths of [[spoiler:Jon Arryn and Sansa's father Ned Stark]] and how he forced an 11-year-old girl [[spoiler:Sansa's friend, Jeyne Poole]] into prostitution, then sold Jeyne into marriage to a {{Sadist}}.** As it turns out, there is also a small portion of the fandom that has decided, against all evidence, that Cersei Lannister is a tragic heroine trapped in abusive relationships with Jaime (in which ''she'' is the abuser) and Robert (more true, though the abuse still is two-way, and Robert also feels trapped), ignoring her episodes like basically sexually exploiting her weak-willed cousin Lancel because he looks like Jaime; additionally her love with Jaime is implied to stem from narcissism. While it's true that her life hasn't always been a bed of roses, this doesn't even come ''close'' to absolving Cersei of guilt for the monstrous crimes she herself has committed. Her love for her children seems possessive, to the point she allows [[RoyalBrat Joffrey]] to satisfy his cruelty without being disciplined, meaning he ends up as one of the most monstrous and incompetent Kings to ever sit the Iron Throne.** [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys Sandor "The Hound" Clegane]] gets this from time to time himself. Granted, he does go through considerable CharacterDevelopment, along with a FreudianExcuse and later characterization as an AntiVillain [[spoiler:with shades of TheAtoner, even. However, despite his protective attitude towards [[MoralityPet both of the Stark girls]], he's still a violent {{Jerkass}} up until the end]]. It's still relatively easy to find the fangirls romanticizing the scene when he [[NearRapeExperience was contemplating forcing himself on Sansa]], and that pesky incident of him killing a child tends to go ignored. ** Tywin Lannister has a fair amount of fans, who admire his talent for scheming and take as WordOfGod his brother's assessment that while a harsh man, he was no harsher than necessary, and [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans acted for the good of the family/realm]]. The "no harsher than necessary" goes out the window when we learn he once ''ordered a gang-rape of 14-year-old girl to punish his son''. Regardless of any positive outcomes of his actions, Tywin is shown to be totally unempathetic and treats everyone as pawns in his current scheme. He may have been upset about his beloved wife Joanna dying in childbirth, but that doesn't justify his horrible treatment of Tyrion, refusing to name him heir to Casterly Rock, treating him as an embarrassment to the family for being a dwarf, and leaving Tyrion permanently damaged with his cruel treatment. Moreover, the circumstances of [[spoiler: Tywin's death at Tyrion's hand]] basically imply that he was just a hypocrite, and that Tywin's adoring brother [[NobleTopEnforcer Kevan]] was deluded by love for his brother into seeing good that wasn't there. In fairness, Kevan and Genna knew what Tywin was, they just loved him for being their brother.--->'''Genna:''' Every little girl needs a big brother to protect her, and Tywin was big even when he was little.** Some people, including [[Series/GameOfThrones D&D]] are convinced Renly Baratheon would have made a [[TheGoodKing great King]] due to his friendly, amiable nature and [[spoiler:it was a tragedy he died.]] Renly certainly plays up that image in public, but in private shows himself to be vain and sleazy, never showing any ruling skills outside of [[VillainWithGoodPublicity good PR]], basically being just a YesMan on the Small Council of Robert Baratheon, and spending months just enjoying himself with tourneys and parties while the Seven Kingdoms are being torn apart in war. The idea he'd be good to the smallfolk is challenged by the fact he is starving King's Landing into submission. His kindness in appointing Brienne is really because he sees her useful, behind her back he mocks her for her unattractiveness. As for being TheCharmer and the idea that many of the lords are supporting him because they think he'd make a good King, Mace Tyrell only seems to support Renly as it will make his daughter Margaery Tyrell Queen, as shown by the fact that when [[spoiler:Renly dies the Tyrells support the monstrous Joffrey so Margaery can be Queen.]] Also, despite people giving Stannis criticism for [[spoiler:killing Renly, it is quite clear Renly intends to kill the older brother who protected him when he was a child from the Tyrells, due to Stannis' claim being superior, and shows no remorse over this, while Stannis is clearly upset over Renly's death and it is implied he isn't consciously aware of his role in this.]]** There are people who believe [[TheSociopath Roose Bolton]] is a noble Lord who loves his family and is doing what is best for the North, [[spoiler:and that the Red Wedding was justified as it brought peace to the realm, with Roose ruling the North]]. However while Roose may say "A quiet land, a peaceful people", he clearly abuses his power, his philosophy more being do horrible things but keep up a good image, such as raping women on his lands. He even allows his bastard from one such incident, the monstrous [[BastardBastard Ramsay Snow/Bolton]], to go round terrorising the North, his objection to their actions not being because of the horrible stuff they do but that they're not hiding their atrocities like Roose is. Despite Ramsay quite probably poisoning [[CainAndAbel Roose' legitimate son]] Roose doesn't do anything about it due to the stigma about kinslaying... but seems ultimately to not care how Ramsay's evil will bring about the end of House Bolton. And the idea Roose was bailing on Robb's lost cause for the betterment of the realm? A lot of people have concluded from Roose' military decisions that he was [[spoiler:sabotaging Robb's campaign from the start and was thus responsible for Robb losing his chance to defeat the Lannisters]].* ''Literature/TalesOfMU'':** Puddy. Despite knowing pretty much nothing about her backstory or inner thoughts, her fans on the story's forum seem absolutely certain that she had a rotten home life and that this makes her a JerkassWoobie who just needs a hug. Don't mind her various assaults on the hero, her attack on the series' actual [[TheWoobie Woobie]], or her abusive and bigoted attitude.** "The Man". He's only appeared in three short flashback stories involving the protagonist's mother as a child. In the first one, he nearly drowns her. In the second, he tries to seduce her. In the third, he impregnates her at the age of 15 and is confirmed as a [[IAmAHumanitarian Man Eating]] [[AlwaysChaoticEvil Demon]]. The reader reactions range from "Damn, he's smooth!" to "Let's wait to see some real evil before we judge him."* Joren from Creator/TamoraPierce's ''Literature/ProtectorOfTheSmall'' quartet got this for a while - in {{canon}}, he's radiantly beautiful to the point of being a PrettyBoy but also [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain petty, bullying, sadistic and homophobic]]. He exists to bully the heroine, stage a few hazings, half-assedly attempt to befriend her and die in a closet. He's received the Draco Malfoy treatment in fanfiction quite a bit, when he's written about at all. Despite how this would probably disturb the author resoundingly, he's usually paired off with the heroine.** "Die in a closet" is understating it massively. [[spoiler:He died in the Chamber of the Ordeal, a semi-divine judge of the moral/emotional strength of knight candidates. He's not only spiteful and spoiled but too brittle to survive a knight's true test.]]* Raistlin Majere of the Literature/{{Dragonlance}} novels may qualify as this, although he's been a protagonist in some of the novels. He's definitely evil and creepy, yet he has a massive collection of fangirls. * Heathcliff in ''Literature/WutheringHeights'' has received this treatment over the years, having become something of an archetype of the tortured-but-dashing Gothic Romantic Hero With A Heart Of Gold, up there with Mr. Darcy from ''PrideAndPrejudice'' and Mr. Edward Rochester from ''Literature/JaneEyre''. This completely overlooks the fact that, within the novel, he's presented as a repellent, violent, and obsessively vindictive bully who spitefully destroys everyone who ever looked cross-eyed at him... and then, when they're dead, immediately does his best to destroy the lives of their ''children'' instead.** For that matter, Rochester has received some of this over the years as well; however, whilst he's certainly no saint, he's arguably presented with enough LaserGuidedKarma for his misdeeds and expresses enough genuine regret for his actions to at least slightly redeem himself in the eyes of the reader, unlike the largely unrepentant Heathcliff (whose karmic payback, whilst present, is a bit more oblique).** Creator/EmilyBronte may have foreseen this reaction when she created Isabella Linton, a silly teenager, who insists on perceiving Heathcliff as a Gothic Romantic Hero even though everybody around her tells her he isn't. It takes him hanging her pet dog before their elopement and then a few months of an abusive marriage to get this idea out of her head.* Discussed In-Universe in Thomas Hardy's ''The Return of the Native'', when describing Eustacia Vye, the narrator mentions "At school, she used to [[RootingForTheEmpire side with the Philistines in several battles]], and had wondered if [[Literature/TheBible Pontius Pilate]] was as handsome as he was frank and fair." Though the point is this is probably to show us that Eustacia is a VillainProtagonist and we're not meant to sympathize with her.* William Hamleigh in ''Pillars of the Earth'', a spoiled and sadistic noble, whom, when his peasants cannot pay their taxes, rapes their wives and daughters as compensation. For some reason, certain fangirls wish that their fathers couldn't pay the taxes so they could suffer the same fate.** Any of you who are in doubt about his pantsing, well, [[http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=pillars%20of%20the%20earth&order=9&offset=192#/dm941c look at this picture of him on deviantart.]] [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys Read the comments. All of them.]]* ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'' pretty much popularized the concept of VampiresAreSexGods. Which is thoroughly disturbing considering in the original novel, he was ''never'' portrayed as anything other than a hideous monster devoted to killing everyone and everything.* [[Creator/HPLovecraft Cthulhu]]. Because [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever an enormous]], octopus-faced EldritchAbomination who's waking [[BrownNote causes insanity]] and [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt death]] would [[BlatantLies totally]] [[BlueAndOrangeMorality be a benevolent ruler]] to [[InsignificantLittleBluePlanet us]].** Got referenced in [[http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/2231.html this]] ''Webcomic/IrregularWebcomic'' strip (with link to this page, of course), when Cthulhu has problems dealing with fans wanting his autograph.** And now WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick is planning a (tongue-in-cheek) ParanormalRomance novel giving Cthulhu this exact treatment.** Another Franchise/CthulhuMythos creature that gets this treatment in some sects of the fandom - [[MagnificentBastard Nyarlathotep]]. Yes, [[EldritchAbomination that one]], [[BlueAndOrangeMorality the one that messes with humans]] [[ItAmusedMe because he's bored]]. It doesn't help that Lovecraft himself basically described him as being "[[TallDarkAndHandsome Slender, swarthy]][[EvilIsSexy , and sinister]]" in one story, or that he appears as a rather attractive-looking Pharaoh in ''Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath''.* Most of the males in the ''Literature/BlackJewels'' series fit this trope. Daemon and [[spoiler:his father]] Saetan are literally written to be walking sex, and are given sympathetic backstories and valid reasons to be total bastards. But they're still murderers.* Several villains from ''Literature/WarriorCats'':** [[ManipulativeBastard Tigerstar]] gets some of this, but it's actually somewhat understandable. His [[FauxAffablyEvil charisma]], [[LargeHam grandeur]] and overall ManipulativeBastard personality make it hard not to [[LoveToHate enjoy him as a villain]]. Some fans, however, do take it a bit far by trying to justify his actions with his [[FreudianExcuse troublesome childhood]] that was revealed in ''Bluestar's Prophecy''.** Then there's Scourge, the leader of [=BloodClan=]. His fans tend to come in two varieties: Those who think he's a badass, and those who pity him due to his [[FreudianExcuse rough childhood]]. However, the latter group is mostly made up of MisaimedFandom - the [[WordOfGod author's note]] included in ''The Rise of Scourge'' specifically says that in writing the story they were trying to ''explain'' Scourge's evil behavior, and establish him as a {{Foil}} to Firestar, not ''justify'' what he did. In fact, when Scourge's abusive siblings - Socks and Ruby - come to Scourge after being abandoned by their owners, Scourge seems to have gotten over their bullying enough to simply have them chased away, rather than getting any sort of revenge on them. The fact that he continues to be evil despite having got over what originally ''made'' him one shows that his rough childhood doesn't excuse him for his atrocities.*** To be fair, he DID spend most of his life in a place filled with practically nothing but cruel practically moraless jerks and starvation.** [[WellDoneSonGuy Hawkfrost]], Tigerstar's son, mostly for EvilIsCool[=/=]EvilIsSexy reasons.** Breezepelt gets it occasionally, largely due to his status as JerkassWoobie: His bratty behavior comes from [[AbusiveParent Crowfeather's]] [[TheUnfavorite lack of commitment or compassion]]. However, even after he [[spoiler:turned to attempted murder to get back at everyone he felt had wronged him]], fans still cling to his FreudianExcuse.** One of the few villains of the Power of Three series, Ashfur [[spoiler:tried to get revenge on Squirrelflight, who rejected him as a mate a year ago, by killing her supposed kits Hollyleaf, Lionblaze and Jayfeather in hope that he would cause her the same pain that she caused him when she rejected him.]] [[BrokenBase Opinions remain divided across the fanbase on whether this was justified or not]]. However, some manic supporters of [[BaseBreakingCharacter Ashfur]] try to paint him as a helpless victim, and even go as far as portraying [[RonTheDeathEater Squirrelflight as a villain]]. Even worse, some of them even [[MisaimedFandom wish that he had been successful in killing the threes kits]].** Mapleshade gets this too due to [[spoiler:having been exiled from [=ThunderClan=] for having a [=RiverClan=] mate, then getting kicked out of ''there'' as well when the kits drown]]. Despite this, though, she subverts this trope because she said that she earned her place in the Dark Forest and calls herself an irredeemable bitch.* To a certain extent, [[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy Thrawn]] from the ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse''. Yes, Creator/TimothyZahn made him and the other Imperials complex and generally admirable. He wasn't ''evil'', not black-and-white. But he was very ruthless, pragmatic, and above all, ''Imperial''. He wasn't above YouHaveFailedMe, even if he needed more of a reason and was more forgiving of crew who weren't at fault. He [[ILied lied]], he was willing to hand Leia and her unborn twins to Joruus C'baoth, and he kept the Noghri in indefinite servitude with the lie that when he finished repairing their homeworld, they'd be free. Often, though, he's portrayed purely as someone who [[IDidWhatIHadToDo did what he had to do]] and chose to become a NecessaryEvil. ** Creator/TimothyZahn did not help matters by increasingly making that characterization borderline-canon as he expanded Thrawn's backstory or providing loopholes for fans to justify even Thrawn's more dubiously-moral decisions.** http://www.stardestroyer.net treats the ''[[RootingForTheEmpire entire Empire]]'' this way. There's an [[Fanfic/{{Conquest}} extended Star Wars vs Star Trek]] fic by the site's owner, and you get the feeling he only grudgingly admits the Federation are the good guys.** Perhaps the greatest ''Star Wars'' example though, is Literature/DarthBane. He's a merciless, child-murdering monster of a VillainProtagonist, yet many fans overlooked that in favor of how badass he was.** FateOfTheJedi: Most, if not all of the Lost Tribe of the Sith.* The author of ''Literature/ThePendragonAdventure'' may have made Saint Dane too magnificent for his own good. While he isn't described as particularly attractive in his default form, it's become strangely common for fanart to depict him as a lithe PrettyBoy. Add that to his indisputable charisma, and a disturbing amount of fans have turned him into a figure worthy of support and admiration, despite his active attempts to drive all worlds to destruction so he can remake them to his liking, and the thinly-disguised sadistic pleasure he takes in doing it. This might explain why the later books stress those parts.* Senna Wales from the ''Literature/{{Everworld}}'' series. She's [[HotWitch attractive]] and super-intelligent. She also gets a VillainEpisode in the ninth book of the series, dedicated to exploring her personality and past, that gives her a FreudianExcuse and paints her as more of a JerkassWoobie than a straight-up villain. Of course, most of her fans fully embrace that she's sick and twisted and just decide to [[RootingForTheEmpire root for her anyway]].* Visser Three in ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' is considered an insane, homicidal PsychoForHire [[EvenEvilHasStandards even by the standards]] of a race of conquering brain slugs. An early book revealed that he acquired the form of one of [[ImAHumanitarian his species's natural predators]] solely for the purpose of [[YouHaveFailedMe cannibalizing his underlings]]. He also had a [[GeneralFailure success rate]] to make Cobra Commander blush. However, a bizarre number of fanfics tend to treat him as being far kinder, smarter, more conflicted, and fairer than he ever was in the books, often with him suddenly developing an attraction for [[RelationshipSue a beautiful woman]]. This is mainly due to him being somewhat more AffablyEvil in prequel books, and possibly no small amount of EvilIsSexy.* Luke from ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians''.** In ''Fanfic/ThePrayerWarriors'', Luke joins the Prayer Warriors much like Draco Malfoy does. Amusingly enough, in ''The Evil Gods Part 2'', Thalia (who, like the rest of the Percy Jackson cast, is out of character), maintains that Luke can't possibly be the traitor they're looking for.* ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'s'' vermin sometimes get this, though in their case it's less "In Leather Pants" than "Posing For CutenessOverload", [[FetishFuel except among certain sections of the]] UsefulNotes/FurryFandom. Yeah, the woodlanders are prejudiced against them, but that that might be because the vermin attempt to ''eat'' them at every opportunity.** Though it's not so much the fans blame the "Woodlanders" for being racist, many fans blame the writer for making both sides BlackAndWhiteMorality in the first place. Which why is why most FanFiction has good vermin or evil woodlanders. This seemed to even be Flanderized. As in the second book, a group of heroes find the corpse of a vermin and give him a honourable burial, while much later books the same scenario leads to younger generations of heroes saying, "He's evil, why should we care?"* Many Janeites dislike the [[TheQuietOne quiet]], [[ShrinkingViolet shy]], timid Fanny Price of ''Literature/MansfieldPark'', atypical among Austen's otherwise sassy, witty, DeadpanSnarker heroines. Consequently, many critics are drawn to the [[RomanticFalseLead Mary Crawford]] and somehow claim she actually has the personality more typical for Austen's heroines. Because [[PrideAndPrejudice Elizabeth Bennet]], [[Literature/SenseAndSensibility Elinor Dashwood]], and the rest all considered love secondary to money in marriage, would try to persuade a friend to marry a man she doesn't love, and would callously wish for [[spoiler:someone's ill older brother to die so that he would get his inheritance and therefore be rich enough to marry]], right?** While it doesn't excuse her actions, some of the love for Mary probably comes from a few [[PetTheDog kind moments]] where she comforts Fanny after everyone harasses her.* All of the Feanorians from ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' sometimes fall prey to this. They ''do'' have redeeming qualities, but they're still definitely not complete innocents, what with having slaughtered many innocent people over jewelry:** This is most common with Maedhros and Maglor, who coincidentally happen to be the most sympathetic of a group. But acting as a ParentalSubstitute for Elrond and Elros and ([[IgnoredEpiphany briefly]]) contemplating a HeelFaceTurn don't change the fact that they participate in all three of the kinslayings, destroying the kingdom of Doriath and separating Elrond and Elros from their parents to begin with. Then when they are given the opportunity to repent of their murders, they try to steal the Silmarils again. Fan fics tend to portray Maglor in particular as a straight up good guy who was forced to do all these things against his will, if they acknowledge them at all.** Amrod and Amras are just as guilty of murder over the Silmarils as their brothers, but are invariably portrayed as cute {{Woobie}}s in fandom. At least here it's somewhat mitigated by the fact that one of them wanted to turn back but [[HeelFaceDoorSlam was killed]] and the other does practically nothing his entire time in Middle-earth.** Feanor himself is universally lionized despite causing all the conflict in the first place, because, despite being a selfish and paranoid bastard who takes any disagreement or well-meaning advice as utter emnity, he is also an omnidisciplinary genius and complete and utter badass.** Most surprisingly, Celegorm and Curufin have quite a few fangirls despite, unlike their father and brothers, having no redeeming qualities whatsoever, trying to get their cousin Finrod killed in a UriahGambit, and attempting to force Luthien into marriage.** Caranthir only avoids this because most fans forget all about him.** An Elf from another branch of the House of Finwe, Maeglin, can also get this, though not as much. Despite the fact he desires his [[KissingCousins cousin]] (and its implied he intends to rape her considering these feelings aren't returned and first cousin marriages are illegal among Elves), tries to murder her 7-year old son, and betrays Gondolin to [[GodOfEvil Morgoth]], leading to the death of his uncle Turgon and many of his people. He does grow up in a secluded way and his father kills his mother while trying to kill him, but Maeglin is still one of the most villainous Elves, and unlike the House of Feanor actually joins Morgoth.* An in-universe example appears in ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfTomSawyer''. In the chapter where it's revealed that Injun Joe was dead, it's mentioned that the women of the town had been in the process of getting together a petition to get him pardoned (despite the fact that he committed murder and framed a man too drunk to remember the events of the night properly). As Twain notes, the women would probably have put together the petition if it had been Satan himself being arrested.* Irial from ''Literature/WickedLovely''. Good looking and interesting, yes, but far from good.* [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain Dra]][[ANaziByAnyOtherName ke]] from ''Literature/{{Gone}}''. In the course of four books, his exploits include: [[spoiler:enforcing a brutal semi-police state, forcing a girl to call her autistic brother a retard to his face, leading an effort to encase the hands of several kids in concrete to prevent them from activating powers, holding several children five years or younger hostage, setting coyotes on said children, and torturing the main character while threatening to cause a nuclear meltdown and kill hundreds if the main character doesn't stand and take it.]] But he still has fangirls nonetheless.** [[BigBad Caine]] gets this as well, as does [[DarkChick Diana]]. Diana is probably the most understandable, as [[EvenEvilHasStandards even she has her limits]] and is less an outright villain than a morally neutral person in a difficult situation who does what's necessary to ensure her survival, but even she's rather [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative]].* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'': Fujiwara, to some. Probably because he looks like [[http://s1193.photobucket.com/albums/aa358/TheP-J/Random%20stuff%20from%20the%20internet/?action=view¤t=Fujiwara.png this]], though less shallow fans point to his [[ScrewDestiny somewhat sympathetic motivation]] and his backstory with [[spoiler:Mikuru]], though of course neither of these excuse the fact that in canon, Fujiwara has tried to kill at least two minors, and his ''[[EstablishingCharacterMoment first appearance]]'' has him kidnap another teenager.** He is hardly the only member of the Anti-SOS Brigade to receive this treatment. In fact, compared to the other three, he gets hit with this the ''least''. Their AntiVillain status notwithstanding, pretty much every fanfic featuring them has Sasaki and Kyouko portrayed as perfectly good and innocent characters who happen to be in way over their heads (even in fics set ''before'' [[spoiler: Kyouko]]'s HeelFaceTurn) and sometimes even Kuyou, who in canon is a [[UncannyValleyGirl creepy-as-hell]] StarfishAlien who [[spoiler: is involved in Fujiwara's plot to kill Haruhi]] is thought of as an adorable {{Moe}}blob who just wants to be friends with the others.[[note]]Admittedly there is some canonical basis for this interpretation, but fics that have the heroes not be uncomfortable around her at all fall into this trope nonetheless.[[/note]] Ironically, Fujiwara's MoralEventHorizon crossing seems to have affected the fans, too: almost all of the fics that give him this treatment were written before ''The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya'' came out, in which he [[spoiler: tried to kill Haruhi and is unhealthily obsessed with his "sister", Mikuru]]. After that, when he appears at all, he's portrayed as pretty much a ClassicVillain.* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''** [[PsychopathicManchild Jonathan Teatime]] from ''Discworld/{{Hogfather}}'' seems to get this a lot. ** In ''Discworld/CarpeJugulum'', Pratchett deliberately subverts the trope at the end, when the dashingly gorgeous male vampire asks his object of affection, the young witch Agnes, if she'd reason with the mob to save him from the stake. Her SplitPersonality Perdita is tempted, but Agnes, whose qualifications as a [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Witch of Lancre]] derive from her being sensible and intelligent remembers some of the evil things she's seen the vampires do. She tells him that she wouldn't just let the mob kill him, she'd hold their coats for them while they did it.* ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'' gave us Captain Nemo, a WickedCultured villain who constantly crosses the MoralEventHorizon [[AntiVillain (even when he's ashamed of it)]] and hardly even notices when he [[KickTheDog kicks the dog]]. However, to the MisaimedFandom, Nemo is the poster boy for AffablyEvil, CryForTheDevil, DarkAndTroubledPast, TroubledButCute, WellIntentionedExtremist and even WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds.* Bohun from ''Literature/SienkiewiczTrilogy'' ( from "With the Fire and the Sword"). His devotion to Helena is admirable, but lots of the readers forget that Helena feared him due to the fact that his actions were considered violent and unpredictable even by XVII century Cossacks.* ''Literature/TheChathrandVoyages'' pokes fun at this one. Greysan Fulbreech, introduced in the second and third books, is young and handsome, but slimy and amoral, and his one redeeming feature is that he doesn't have the guts to handle actual evil. He comes off quite negatively, though the real villains are much, much worse. In the fourth book, [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis the history professor who's supposedly putting this story together at some point in the distant future]] mentions in one of his annotations being accosted by a student member of the "Greysan Fulbreech Self-Improvement Society", who's convinced against all reason that Fulbreech was the real hero of the story and the professor is deliberately slandering him. The professor, [[spoiler: who was actually one of the main characters sent forward in time]] and ''knew'' what a louse the real Fulbreech was firsthand, is torn between amusement, exasperation, and disgust. * Takes place in-universe in Creator/JaneAusten's unfinished novel "Sanditon":-->With a perversity of judgement, which must be attributed to his not having by Nature a very strong head, the Graces, the Spirit, the Sagacity, and the Perseverance, of the Villain of the Story outweighed all his absurdities and all his Atrocities with Sir Edward. With him, such Conduct was Genius, Fire and Feeling. It interested and inflamed him; and he was always more anxious for its Success and mourned over its Discomfitures with more Tenderness than could ever have been contemplated by the Authors.* Invoked in-universe in the first novel of ''Literature/TheBlackCompany'' series. Croaker, the main character and narrator, is the surgeon of the titular mercenary company and also an amateur historian who keeps the Company's annals. The Company works for an enigmatic female EvilOverlord called the Lady, and Croaker before long starts writing what amounts to bad self-insert RealPersonFic starring himself becoming romantically involved with a romantically idealized version of her. Then Croaker meets the ''real'' Lady, and she scares the crap out of him, after which he regards the whole thing as an OldShame (but it doesn't stop the other Company members from constantly ribbing him about his "girlfriend"). [[spoiler: Then, in the last book of the initial trilogy, Croaker gets to know the real Lady better as a deeply flawed but human individual- albeit one with godlike levels of magical power- and ends up falling for her anyway. After she gets BroughtDownToNormal and joins the Company herself, they're the OfficialCouple for most of the series.]]. * The picture book ''The True Story Of The Three Little Pigs'' by Creator/JonScieszka reinteprets the so called "Big Bad Wolf" as just some unlucky guy with a nasty cold who is just trying to borrow a cup of flour from the the Three Little Pigs, who have been given the RonTheDeathEater treatment and are portrayed as highly inconsiderate [[{{Jerkass}} assholes]].* Sebastian from ''Literature/TheMortalInstruments'' gets this in many fanfics where his actions are at best given a poor FreudianExcuse and he is made a badder bad boy than Jace so they can have a love triangle. He was forced to do it by Valentine and/or was abused crops up a lot as an excuse. Other times writers will have him say he can't control himself or at worse ignore that he killed a child or completely hand-wave it. Some writers go as far as trying to make Jace a RonTheDeathEater by having him be a bigger jerk than usual to make Seb seem nicer.* The title character in Frederick Forsyth's ''Literature/TheDayOfTheJackal''. How many people read the book (or watch the film adaptation) and cheer for the Jackal? Even though he's a cold-blooded assassin interested only in money, who murders several innocent people while trying to assassinate Charles De Gaulle for a right-wing terrorist group. Forsyth himself seems dismayed by this: "I was very surprised when readers said they loved him. He was the ruddy killer."* Though she's not typically cast as a love interest for [[BrawnHilda obvious reasons]], ''Literature/LesMiserables'' fics that sympathetically portray [[EvilMatriarch Madame Thenardier]] are fairly common. Many fans interpret her abusive nature to be a result of her husband abusing her, and while he's shown to be somewhat controlling he never lays a hand on her in either the book or the play and she seems to be a willing partner in his evil deeds. She also abandoned her eldest son to die in the streets, pawned off her two younger sons onto a criminal acquaintance for use in a child support scam, and mercilessly beat, starved, and insulted Cosette when she had custody of her.* Mr Darcy from ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice'' is an unusual example of this trope. The point of the story is to not judge by first impressions alone, and Elizabeth does discover that Darcy can be a genuinely decent and noble person once she manages to look past the unfavourable view she initially developed of him. However, many readers tend to extrapolate this to view Darcy as a borderline saint who was always completely misunderstood and perfect. In fact, ''Darcy himself'' admits that many of Elizabeth's initial criticisms of his character were, in fact, entirely justified -- he genuinely could be a bit of a cold, unpleasant snob (albeit not nearly the hateful bastard that Elizabeth had convinced herself she was) and had to do plenty of soul-searching and improvement of his character in order to become a man worthy of her affections.----